Polonius Vs Claudius Essay

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Polonius V.S. Claudius In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince Hamlet finds out about the death of his father and plans for revenge against the killer. The killer being Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius, made it difficult for him to reach this goal. However, Claudius has a plan on his own in order to get rid of Hamlet and uses his trusted advisor, Polonius, to achieve this. Claudius sends Polonius and many others on tasks to gather information based upon Hamlet’s actions. Hamlet sees past the perfect mask Claudius wears and tries everything in his power to get his mother, Gertrude, to understand. He succeeds with this revenge, but in an unexpected manner. Hamlet, along with Gertrude, Laertes, and Claudius, die within a tangle of poison; all of which could…show more content…
Shakespeare writes that Claudius says, “There’s something in his soul o’er which his melancholy sits on brood; and I do doubt the hatch and the disclose will be some danger; which for prevent, I have in quick determination thus set it down: he shall with speed to England for the demand of our neglected tribute” (3.2.174-80). Claudius thinks that Hamlet has gone mad because of his want for the power to become king. This thought scares Claudius into wanting to send Hamlet to England, with a plan of having him killed there. While he thinks Hamlet has lost his mind over wanting power, Polonius believes all of this comes from heartbreak. In Hamlet, Polonius says to Ophelia, “In few, Ophelia, do not believe his vows; for they are brokers, not of that dye which their investments show, but mere implorators of unholy suits, breathing like sanctified and pious bonds” (Shakespeare 1.4.133-37). Polonius wants Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet. He wants her to stay pure and understand the possibility of Hamlet’s want for power. Polonius does not want his daughter to get hurt from this relationship with the prince, and therefore forbids her from seeing him. This causes Hamlet’s madness in Polonius’ point of

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